What I Learned from Taking 'Zukei no Kiwami' at Three Cram Schools - How Our Family Chose -

This article is part of the [Junior High School Entrance Exam Series]
Read from the beginning ↓
① 1.2 million yen total spent on junior high school entrance exams

1. The decision to quit Kumon

My son started attending Kumon when he was 3 years old, during his middle year of kindergarten.

At the time, we were in Tokyo, and I just started him on it because everyone else was.
He was taking two subjects: math and English.
I thought that for math, being fast at calculations is always better,
and I vaguely thought that English had to be started early.

After that, we returned to the Kansai region due to my divorce.
Then, an infectious disease spread, and it was a world where even attending school was something to hesitate about.

My son and I also caught the disease, and since I had particularly severe symptoms,
I became very cautious about sending him to school.

The logic was: not sending him to school = it's strange to only go to Kumon.
That is only natural.

Also, Kumon is like a franchise, and the teaching policy differs depending on each classroom.

For example, there are teachers who won't let you move on until you repeat things many times and get a perfect score.
There are teachers who let you progress relatively quickly if you have a certain score. Policies vary. My son was attending a classroom in Kansai that had a cautious policy.

Either way, if he couldn't go to school, he couldn't go to Kumon either.

So, I made the decision that "I will teach him the four arithmetic operations."
My son had reached D-level materials (fractions),
so I just finished up to the four arithmetic operations including decimals and fractions.

This was something we could only do because there was a period when he wasn't going to school.

For English, since we had received materials from a friend and had the e-pencil, we continued with it at home just as it was.

I decided to make sure he mastered calculations thoroughly, as they are the foundation for everything.

2. Encountering 'Zukei no Kiwami'

When he was in the first grade of elementary school, I had him try the SAPIX material 'Kirameki Sansuino,' but he couldn't do it at all.

I realized he was a child who "doesn't have flashes of insight," so I thought he needed to "make steady efforts."
After he finished the four arithmetic operations, I heard we could have a trial for the Tamai-style 'Zukei no Kiwami' at a local Mabuchi individual tutoring school, and since my son said it was very fun, we decided to give it a try.
The entrance fee was free due to a campaign.

3. What is 'Zukei no Kiwami'?

It is an app "specialized in shapes" provided by the Tamai method.
You progress through text + online learning.

You use a tablet or computer.
You can see shapes from 360-degree angles, and hints are visualized.
It was a completely different experience from problems that are just in a textbook.

You start from Level 10 (depending on the grade and the child's ability),
and if you complete Level 1, you can reach a level where you can solve geometry problems for mid-tier schools.

4. Different cram schools have different ways of progressing

Our family took the 'Zukei no Kiwami' (Mastery of Shapes) course at a total of three different cram schools.

1. Mabuchi Kobetsu
Includes 2:1 individual tutoring
The cost is on the higher side at about 12,000 yen per month, including facility fees.

They told us to keep moving forward at home as well.
You can advance to the next level if you pass online.

2. Ing
4,950 yen per month; the cost is overwhelmingly low.
Online only, you advance on your own.

To advance to the next level, you not only have to pass the online advancement test, but you also have to
thoroughly complete all the paper textbooks in your notebookand have it
spot-checkedduring aZoom schooling session
chosen from several options each month, where they say, 'Show me page X.'As the levels increased, the content became more difficult and the textbooks became thicker, which was truly tough.Level 3 has 231 pages, and Level 2 has a volume of 245 pages.Therefore, for my son, who wanted to move ahead online, doing the same thing over and over became painful.
3. Shingakukan

Monthly fee of 4,950 yen, same as Ing (registration fee of 2,200 yen required separately).
No Zoom checks!


Passing online is all that's required.

In our case, we wanted to keep moving ahead online and textbook study had become painful, so we were taken care of by them toward the end.

5. Where should you take the course after all?

My son became absorbed in it and ended up racing from Level 10 to Level 1 in 11 months.
We were able to work on it online together as parent and child, and I learned a lot too.

Our family did 'Zukei no Kiwami' at three cram schools, and if you ask which one was the best, it was Shingakukan.

The reason, of course, is that there were no Zoom checks.

However, that depends on the child.

If the parent doesn't have enough time to do it together and the child cannot progress as desired on their own, a cram school with individual tutoring would be better.

Conversely, for a child who wants to keep moving ahead online regardless of whether a parent is there or not, and for whom getting to the next level quickly is a motivation, I think a place without textbook checks like Shingakukan is good.

What I think is that
'keeping a child who is on a roll in a good mood and in a good rhythm'
is very important.

'Choosing an environment that doesn't stop the child's current momentum.'
To that end, my design is tonot spare the effort of switching cram schools.When we finished 'Zukei no Kiwami' up to Level 1, we quit Hamagakuen for the time being.

And what we chose was 'Shingaku Club'.

I felt uneasy about deviating from the path considered the 'royal road' in Kansai, but
there was a clear reason for that which I could be confident in, in my own way.
It was a decision that was directly linked to costs as well as being a learning design.

Next time, I will write about the circumstances of switching from Hamagakuen to Shingaku Club and what I was thinking at that time.


[Junior High School Entrance Exam Series]
① Total of 1.2 million yen spent on junior high school entrance exams
② From Hamagakuen to Shingaku Club | Our family's design change
③ September of 4th grade, from 20 weeks behind to S-course
④ What I learned from taking 'Zukei no Kiwami' at three cram schools
⑤ Is an A3 printer necessary?
⑥Do you use equations for junior high school entrance exams?
⑦Aptitude test cram school or Shingaku Club, which one? (Public integrated junior high school preparation)
⑧Why public integrated junior high schools require 'academic ability at the level of top-tier private schools'
⑨Strategy for 6th grade without a cram school - Part 1: Summer, the turning point
⑩History mastery method: 'Taiga Drama'
⑪Strategy for 6th grade without a cram school - Part 2: From September to the actual exam